Carpet laying tool construction

ABSTRACT

A carpet laying tool includes a tack strip cutter disposed intermediate the ends of an elongate handle while the opposite ends of the handle carry elements which serve to space the cutter from a support surface against which they both can be urged while pressing against the handle and clamping the cutter grip to the handle so as to permit application of substantial force against the grip of the cutter. Preferably, the spacing elements on each end of the handle include on one end a claw for removing baseboard from walls and, on the other hand, a hammer head of conventional construction.

States atent [191 Stencil [4 1 Feb. 12, 1974 [76] Inventor: John Stencil, 1115 Eye SL Modesto, Calif. 95351 [22] Filed: Mar. 10, 1972 [21 Appl. No.: 233,417

[52] US. Cl 7/8.1R, 30/231, 7/3 A [51] Int. Cl B25f 1/00, 13261) 13/22 [58] Field of Search 7/8.l R, 3 A, 5.5, 5.2; 30/231, 190, 179, 186, 187, 188, 251, 290

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,190,911 2/1940 Nebel 30/231 X 2,207,223 7/1940 McGary... 30/231 X I 146,345 1/1874 Leach 30/179 2,449,561 9/1948 McGary et al.. 30/251 2,258,514 10/1941 Molinelli 7/8.1 R X 606,547 6/1898 Hillman 7/3 A Primary Examiner.lames L. Jones, Jr.

Assistant ExaminerR0scoe V. Parker [57] ABSTRACT A carpet laying tool includes a tack strip cutter disposed intermediate the ends of an elongate handle while the opposite ends of the handle carry elements which serve to space the cutter from a support surface against which they both can be urged while pressing against the handle and clamping the cutter grip to the handle so as to permit application of substantial force against the grip of the cutter. Preferably, the spacing elements on each end of the handle include on one end a claw for removing baseboard from walls and, on the other hand, a hammer head of conventional construction.

2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Patented Feb. 12, 1974 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Feb. 12, 1974 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 CARPET LAYING TOOL CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to a carpet laying tool construction and more particularly to a composite tool to be utilized in hammering, wedging and cutting operations associated with laying carpet and otherwise.

In laying carpet, various tools are necessary including a conventional claw hammer for pounding tacks, nails, etc.; a cutting tool for cutting lengths of tack strip material; and a wedging claw or device for removing baseboard.

Most of this work is, of courseQdone on a persons knees and, when working on one side of the room, frequently it becomes necessary to use a tool which has been left on the opposite side of the room, and this requires too much additional traffic and exercise in obtaining the right tool for the function to be performed at a particular time.

In the present instance, a composite tool has been provided embodying the aforementioned equipment in a manner which takes advantage of the various tools in a novel way whereby great force can be applied to the cutting blades when cutting tack strip and thereby relieve the worker of any fatigue involved in cutting great amounts of tack strip or in cutting through a particularly tough piece of material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS In general, there has been provided a carpet laying tool or hammer construction characterized by an elongate handle, a hammer head protruding from one end and a claw protruding from the other, all lying in substantially the same plane and whereby the handle further carries one cutting blade for cooperation with another cutting blade operated by a lever arm, also pivoted to the handle. The lever arm has a grip portion which can be compressed or squeezed toward the handle so as to cause the blade carried by its opposite end to bite squarely against the first named blade. The hammer head and claw extend sufficiently laterally of the hammer handle so as to space the cutter, including a portion of the hammer handle, sufficiently from a support surface, such as the floor or a wall, to accommodate the disposition of a persons fingers between the handle of the hammer and the support surface while applying great force against the lever arm grip portion.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved carpet laying tool..

It is another object of this invention to provide a combined cutter, hammer and claw adapted for removing baseboards from a wall in a composite arrangement wherein portions of each of the foregoing are common to the others.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a composite carpet laying tool including functions of the foregoing tools wherein the hammer and claw cooperate with the handle of the cutter while the tool is disposed against a support surface so as to enable great force to be applied to the cutter.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention .will become more readily evident from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a carpet laying tool according to the invention shown with the cutter in its opened position;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, schematic view showing use of the tool shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a carpet laying tool according to the invention shown with the cutting blades in closed position;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the tool shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the tool shown in FIG. 3 taken from the left end;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are respectively section views taken along the lines 6-6, 77 and 8-8 respectively of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A carpet laying tool 10 comprises a generally hammer-like construction wherein the hammer includes a handle 11 and a hammer head 12 of generally conven tional design provided with a conventional claw l3 and a striking head 14 to be used in conventional manner.

The other end of handle 11 carries a curved claw 16 formed with a small notch 17 for removing tacks and other small attaching devices. Claw 16 is useful for removing and prying loose baseboard from a wall around a room and, for this purpose, is formed with a relatively thin wedging lip 18, the surface behind lip 18 being relatively thin for a substantial distance 19 so as to permit the claw to enter a corresponding distance between the baseboard and the wall before they arewedged apart any substantial amount.

Edge 18 extends cross-wise of handle 11 in a straight line so that, when tool 10 is disposed in a position as shown in FIG. 2, edge 18 and the striking surface 21 of head 14 will stabilize tool 10 and prevent it from rocking laterally. Thus, edge 18 is preferably normal to the plane of handle 11 and head 12.

Tool 10 further includes means for cutting tack strips of a type which are employed in laying carpet. Thus, a stationary cutting blade 22 is carried by handle 11 and is preferably disposed in a removable manner by means of screws or other conventional attaching means. Blade 22 cooperates with another cutting blade 23 carried by an elongate support arm 24 curved upwardly to be received within the channel 27 formed along the underside of handle 11. Support arm 24 is pivotally carried by a pivot pin 26 at one end whereby it can move into and out of channel 27 as the two cutting blades 22, 23 are drawn into and out of engagement.

Means for moving cutting blade 23 into and out of engagement with cutting blade 22 includes the lever arm 28 formed with a yoke portion 29 straddling both sides of handle 11 and coupled thereto by means of a pivot pin 31. v

Yoke portion 29 is, in turn, pivotally coupled by means of pin 34 to a pair of bracket arms 32 carried by support arm 24. Lever arm 28 further includes a grip portion 33 whereby movement of grip portion 33 toward handle 11 serves to draw pin 34 (and yoke portion 29) toward handle 11 and to draw blades 22, 23 into engagement for cutting. The back of handle 11 is formed in a manner whereby, when grip portion 33 has been moved to a position to lie against and along handle l l, the lower end of grip portion 33 will merge with and form substantially a continuation of the surface of claw 16 so as to form a substantial handle or grip for using tool as a hammer with blades 22, 23 squeezed closed.

However, it will be readily evident from FIG. 2 that, when tack strip is being cut by the blades 22, 23, great pressure can be applied by disposing edge 18 and the striking surface 21 of hammer head 12 against a support surface 36 and then pushing down upon the grip portion 33 of lever arm 28. In this manner, the striking head 14 and claw 16 function as first and second spacer support means extending laterally to one and the same side of handle 11 whereby the distal ends of these spacer support means are disposed sufficiently remote from the handle 11 to dispose handle 11 sufficiently clear of the support surface 36 to accommodate fingers 37 of a persons hand between the handle 11 and support surface 36 free of engagement of fingers 37 with the support surface.

In short, it is possible to grip the cutting mechanism while edge 18 and surface 21 are disposed against a support surface and, in this manner, it is possible to lean heavily upon the grip portion 33 while protecting the fingers and, in fact, place a substantial portion of the persons weight upon the grip portion when effecting cutting by blades 22, 23.

As grip portion 33 is squeezed against handle 11, pivot pin 34 and bracket arms 32 are drawn toward handle 11 and enter into a recess 38 formed in handle 11. Recess 38 has a sufficient depth to accommodate entry of pivot pin 34 and bracket arms 32 without interferring with the contact between blades 22, 23.

From the foregoing, it will be readily evident that there has been provided an improved carpet laying tool or hammer construction characterized by a handle and a hammer head and baseboard removing claw located integral therewith at opposite ends of the hammer for independent use. It is further evident that the cutting tool carried by the handle of the hammer cooperates with the claw and hammer head when supporting the handle of the hammer in spaced relation with a support surface so as to permit additional force to be applied to the cutting jaws or blades. Finally, each of the three tools share the common handle 11 so as to make the tools available at the same time and place.

I claim:

1. In a cutting tool construction, an elongate handle, a lever arm pivotally coupled to said handle, a first cutting blade carried by said handle, an elongate support arm pivotally coupled at one end to said handle, a second cutting blade carried by said support arm for movement into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, said lever arm having a grip portion movable toward and away from said handle, said lever arm being coupled to said support arm to move said second cutting blade into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, said lever arm being operated to cut material interposed between said blades by gripping said handle and squeezing said grip portion toward said handle with the fingers of a persons hand encircling both said handle and said grip portion, first and second spacer support means extending laterally to one and the same side opposite said grip portion, said first and second spacer support means having distal ends spaced sufficiently from said handle to dispose said handle sufficiently clear of the support surface to accommodate said fingers between said handle and said support surface free of engagement with said support surface; said first spacer support means comprising the striking head of a hammer head carried by one end of said handle, and wherein said second spacer support means comprises a claw carried by the other end of said handle, said claw terminating in a substantially straight relatively wide edge extending cross-wise to said handle for stabilizing said handle by disposing both said striking head and said edge against a support surface while the grip portion is being gripped tightly to the handle during cutting.

2. In a cutting tool construction having an elongate handle, a hammer head carried on one end of the handle and disposed to extend substantially normal to the axis of said handle to define a plane including both said axis and said head, a claw in said plane disposed on the other end of said handle and extending laterally away from said axis, said claw terminating in a straight relatively broad end edge extending substantially normal to said plane and disposed a predetermined distance spaced from the axis of said handle to form a predetermined clearance between said handle and a support plane including said edge and a portion of the contact surface of said hammer head, said clearance being sufficient to accommodate a persons fingers therein free of said support plane when gripping said handle, a first cutting blade carried by said handle, an elongate support arm pivotally coupled at one end to an end region of the handle, a secondary cutting blade carried by said support arm for movement into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, and a lever arm having a grip portion at one end disposed to extend along and adjacent said handle and having a yoke portion at the other end straddling said handle, means forming a pivot connection between said handle and said lever arm to permit said grip portion to move between advanced and retracted positions relative to said handle, means for coupling said yoke portion to said support arm to move said second cutting blade, said clearance serving to permit said grip portion to be compressed toward said handle while said edge and contact surface are disposed against a support surface with said fingers disposed in said clearance free of said support surface. 

1. In a cutting tool construction, an elongate handle, a lever arm pivotally coupled to said handle, a first cutting blade carried by said handle, an elongate support arm pivotally coupled at one end to said handle, a second cutting blade carried by said support arm for movement into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, said lever arm having a grip portion movable toward and away from said handle, said lever arm being coupled to said support arm to move said second cutting blade into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, said lever arm being operated to cut material interposed between said blades by gripping said handle and squeezing said grip portion toward said handle with the fingers of a person''s hand encircling both said handle and said grip portion, first and second spacer support means extending laterally to one and the same side opposite said grip portion, said first and second spacer support means having distal ends spaced sufficiently from said handle to dispose said handle sufficiently clear of the support surface to accommodate said fingers between said handle and said support surface free of engagement with said support surface; said first spacer support means comprising the striking head of a hammer head carried by one end of said handle, and wherein said second spacer support means comprises a claw carried by the other end of said handle, said claw terminating in a substantially straight relatively wide edge extending cross-wise to said handle for stabilizing said handle by disposing both said striking head and said edge against a support surface while the grip portion is being gripped tightly to the handle during cutting.
 2. In a cutting tool construction having an elongate handle, a hammer head carried on one end of the handle and disposed to extend substantially normal to the axis of said handle to define a plane including both said axis and said head, a claw in said plane disposed on the other end of said handle and extending laterally away from said axis, said claw terminating in a straight relatively broad end edge extending substantially normal to said plane and disposed a predetermined distance spaced from the axis of saId handle to form a predetermined clearance between said handle and a support plane including said edge and a portion of the contact surface of said hammer head, said clearance being sufficient to accommodate a person''s fingers therein free of said support plane when gripping said handle, a first cutting blade carried by said handle, an elongate support arm pivotally coupled at one end to an end region of the handle, a secondary cutting blade carried by said support arm for movement into and out of engagement with said first cutting blade, and a lever arm having a grip portion at one end disposed to extend along and adjacent said handle and having a yoke portion at the other end straddling said handle, means forming a pivot connection between said handle and said lever arm to permit said grip portion to move between advanced and retracted positions relative to said handle, means for coupling said yoke portion to said support arm to move said second cutting blade, said clearance serving to permit said grip portion to be compressed toward said handle while said edge and contact surface are disposed against a support surface with said fingers disposed in said clearance free of said support surface. 